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Regular City Council Meeting Monday,June 15, 2015 Page 25 serves for new staff positions proved problematic long-term. Councilmember Et- ten further opined that the status of reserve targets was fine now, but if their use continued annually, it would put the City in a hard position to work out of. Councilmember McGehee agreed with Councilmember Etten, opining that she had never been a proponent of using reserves, since the City Council had a history of not paying them back. Councilmember McGehee further opined that she did not support using reserves for operational costs; and expressed her comfort level with the cash reserve level for 2015, but did not want to dip much below the 40% target, with 35% the absolute bottom she would consider, based on the recom- mendations of the State Auditor. In general, Councilmember Laliberte spoke in support of using reserves as had been done in recent years, since they were taxpayer monies collected for specific purpose, and she could see no reason to hoard those funds. However, as stated by Councilmember Etten, Councilmember Laliberte agreed that she was not a fan of using them to fund something beyond a one-time expense or single year purposes. Since new positions were ongoing expenses, Councilmember Laliberte stated her lack of support in using reserves for that purpose. As far as repaying reserves, Councilmember Laliberte stated she did not necessarily feel the need to do so, since they were there to be used. Councilmember Willmus agreed with the comments of Councilmember Laliberte, opining that he found the City's reserve funds to be healthy and well within their target range. Regarding State Auditor guidelines, Councilmember Willmus noted their recommendation was to retain 5-6 months operating reserves in the General Fund, and noted that many communities fund everything through their General Fund, while the City has 25 plus funds. When looking at it under those circum- stances and in totality, Councilmember Willmus opined that the City's reserves were quite healthy. Addressing the disclaimer of Finance Director Miller (RCA, page 4), that as the budget increases the reserve target numbers will trend down, Councilmember Willmus opined that while this was the case between 2013 and 2014, it was diffi- cult for the City Council to make an informed decision at this point in the process (e.g. COLA, reserves, and new positions) when the full picture had yet to be de- termined. Of greater importance to him, Councilmember Willmus sought more information on the carry forward from last year, and how to plug that into the up- coming budget and how that necessary information entered into the conversation going forward. Speaking in general, Mayor Roe stated his preference to use reserves if needed, while also looking to other funding sourcesfirst including property taxes and fees before using reserves. Moving to the end of the process and increasing discom-